TODAY IN HISTORY: November 11

Today is Monday, Nov. 11, the 315th day of 2013. There are 50 days left in the year. This is Veterans Day in the U.S., Remembrance Day in Canada.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 11, 1918, fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany.

On this date:
In 1620, 41 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed a compact calling for a “body politick.”
In 1831, former slave Nat Turner, who’d led a violent insurrection, was executed in Jerusalem, Va.
In 1889, Washington became the 42nd state.
In 1909, President William Howard Taft accepted the recommendation of a joint Army-Navy board that Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands be made the principal U.S. naval station in the Pacific.
In 1921, the remains of an unidentified American service member were interred in a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in a ceremony presided over by President Warren G. Harding.
In 1932, a new tomb to house the remains of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery.
In 1942, during World War II, Germany completed its occupation of France.
In 1960, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem survived a coup attempt by army rebels. (However, he was overthrown and killed in 1963.)
In 1966, Gemini 12 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. aboard.
In 1972, the U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Binh to the South Vietnamese, symbolizing the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.
In 1987, following the failure of two Supreme Court nominations, President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of Judge Anthony M. Kennedy, who went on to win confirmation.
In 1992, the Church of England voted to ordain women as priests.Ten years ago: President Bush’s top foreign advisers summoned L. Paul Bremer, Iraq’s U.S. administrator, for hurried White House talks focused on their growing frustrations with the Iraqi Governing Council and a logjam in transferring political power to Iraqis. In Galveston, Texas, millionaire Robert Durst was found not guilty of murdering Morris Black, an elderly neighbor who Durst said he’d killed accidentally. Toronto’s Roy Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award.Five years ago: President George W. Bush marked his last Veterans Day as president at a New York pier, speaking to a crowd of thousands gathered for the rededication of the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young Award.One year ago: President Barack Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and said the Sept. 11 generation had “written one of the greatest chapters” in the country’s military service, toppling a dictator and battling an insurgency in Iraq, pushing back the Taliban in Afghanistan and decimating al-Qaida’s leadership. A Florida woman identified as the recipient of harassing emails from David Petraeus’ girlfriend acknowledged her friendship with the former CIA director. Jill Kelley, an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, said she and her family had been friends with Petraeus and his family for more than five years.

Thought for Today: “Old myths, old gods, old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our mind, waiting for our call. We have need for them. They represent the wisdom of our race.” — Stanley Kunitz, American poet laureate (1905-2006).